Visiting Lester Hiews Community Dogs And Providing Dogfood For Them
AnimalCare 
Jun 8, 2013 
AnimalCare, NGOs 
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Lester Hiew Thiam Hock and his mum, Jenny Khong Chin Chin, are feeders of community dogs in Klang. They come under our Food Fund now so this afternoon, we sent four packs of Caliber (22.7kg) dogfood to them. This sponsorship comes from all donors through our Food Fund, Andy Lew and Kok Khee Wee.
Lester and his mum, Jenny.
Of course charity begins “at home”; they feed all the dogs on their road.
Lester invited us for a tour to see some of his other community dogs.
Look…there’s another dog under the car!
Our first stop was at his regular vet.
This is one of the dogs they feed.
The dog sustained a bite wound on the head and it was already infested with maggots. The vet suspects it was caused by a fight. The dog was admitted yesterday but seems to be much better now.
Jenny checks the wound. Yes, it is so much better now.
This is one of their rescued puppies, already adopted.
The dog is now sent in for neutering by the owner. Lester says it is easy to get adopters for jet-black dogs, but not those with “white socks”. It must be a Chinese taboo as it is the colours for mourning.
Our next stop is on another street.
Lester and his mum know exactly where the dogs are and which car or bus they sleep under.
They start their once-a-day feeding rounds at midnight so as not to disturb the neighbours. From their street, they drive around to all their stops. The dogs will be waiting for them.
Oh, this dog wants a ride! That’s Tracy, Lester’s girlfriend.
All the dogs we met were super people-friendly.
Lester says in general, the residents do not complain about the presence of these dogs. Some even take turns to feed the dogs. Isn’t this nice?
You know, today is such a happy day because we get to see community dogs and hear real-life stories where residents do not mind their presence. This is a far cry from the stories we heard from the council yesterday. Yes, there is hope yet…even apathetic people might be sympathetic when feeders do their tasks responsibly. Why, they might even join in the bandwagon and share the joy of feeding and looking after these loyal guardians of their neighbourhood.
Now, we are at Kutty’s temporary abode, under this car with two females!
Kutty comes from elsewhere but one of the females has come into heat, hence, Kutty is here now. Lester and his mum are going to catch this female tonight and get her spayed. Kutty is the most recent case whose medical we funded.
Kutty’s head wound has completely healed now.
We are at another stop now. Here’s another one of their community dogs.
Aww…every dog is so, so friendly.
That’s really a good sign. When humans treat them well, they will be friendly.
We drove to yet another road and here, we find three dogs.
Hello doggies! That’s Connie patting one of them.
Aww…
We soon came to a factory area and Lester said people have been dumping pregnant dogs in this mini jungle. There are now many puppies inside the jungle. And not only that, the dogs and puppies live with monkeys inside this jungle!
We got down from the car and Lester called out to the puppies.
An uncle who works in this factory feeds the puppies and the nearby dogs. I offered our food subsidy for these dogs as well.
Oh, look!! The puppies are all coming out!!
Aww…
More coming out! Aren’t they incredibly cute?
Well, it’s not an ideal place, but at least they are safe. They were born inside this mini jungle.
Soon the nearby dogs came too.
Hello puppies!
Well, this is better than living on the streets or near traffic, isn’t it?
Lester says there are another two areas like this with approximately the same number of dogs.
The uncle and the Myanmar workers feed these dogs. Lester and his mum give them dog kibbles or the Myanmar workers feed the dogs with whatever leftovers they have. Lester says these Myanmar workers, whom he plays football with, love the dogs. There is no worry of any dog-eating here, Lester assures us.
Connie is fascinated with the puppies!
Don’t you wish you could find homes for all of them?
Well, for now, this would have to do.
The dogs get a treat as well.
The Myanmar workers built this “kennel” for the dogs.
At the far end, you see another kennel built by the Myanmar workers.
These two are the Moo-dogs (they look like cows!)
In the evenings, according to Lester, the monkeys come out and line up by the roadside. Sometimes, you will see the monkeys picking ticks off the puppies.
It was time to move on to another spot, so we bade farewell to the happy dogs.
We soon came to another road and there’s a dog who lives under this bus.
They all come out when they hear the familiar sound of Lester’s mum’s car.
Another friendly dog.
But she is pregnant and has a skin problem.
Jenny also noticed tiny tumours growing on both sides of the mouth.
A trip to the vet would be necessary to get the tumours checked. And after she delivers and is done nursing, she will be spayed. We have offered our Medical Fund to help in all these cases.
We’re at another stop now..
This is the mother-dog whose 4 puppies’ treatment we funded. She actually gave birth to 9 puppies but 5 were found dead. Of the 4 surviving ones, 3 more passed on even under medical care. Only one survived.
She will be spayed soon.
Our next stop is a very sad case.
These four dogs have an owner, but the owner no longer looks after them or feed them, yet they are tied up on this vacant land. So, Lester and Jenny come round to feed them every day. They bought the tarpaulin and set it up together with the neighbourhood boys.
They are all from one family. Their owners have stopped feeding them years ago.
There’s Anusha, the mother, and her three children, Jackie, Johnny and Brownie.
Lester is trying to find homes for this family as their owners would be moving soon. Any shelter willing to take them in?
Kutty also comes from here, but he has now migrated to where the “hot chicks” are…for the time being.
This is a kennel Lester had built – it serves as “time-out” for the mischievous dogs.
This is Terri, another dog whose medical treatment (for parvo) we funded. Terri is up for adoption.
Here is another dog.
We finally come back to Lester’s road and we meet Gu (it means “cow” in Chinese).
Another female dog lives inside this drain. She comes out only during feeding times or when it rains heavily. Otherwise, I suppose she is very safe living inside the drain!
Here is yet another dog whom Lester and his mum feeds.
Gu, the playboy of the street. He has fathered many offsprings but he is more than 10 years old now.
Lester’s priority is to get the females spayed first, then only the males. There are just so many of them.
The flamboyant Gu.
I think our tour took about 2 hours, visiting only some of the locations whose community dogs Lester and his mum feed every day. They start feeding at midnight and finish at about 1.30am or later. EVERY DAY.
Lester says every night, many of the dogs will come to right infront of their house and sleep on the road until dawn.
The 4 packs of dogfood that we provided today are not for these dogs that you see here as Jenny says they do not need food supply for these community dogs. Jenny cooks rice with chicken liver, bones, etc. for these dogs (a healthy and hearty meal!).
The dogfood that we provided today are for three colonies of abandoned dogs located elsewhere, in industrial sites about 40 minutes from where Lester lives. Lester and Jenny drive there on weekends to feed these poor dogs and they need 20kg of dogfood each visit. Often, pregnant dogs are dumped and by the time Lester gets to them, the newborn puppies are already dead. These dogs are quite feral in behaviour and there is barely any chance to befriend them as they don’t live very long. Every week, there will be new dogs. All believed to be abandoned. There would be many dead dogs too.
It’s a sad life, folks. There is no chance of catching them to be neutered, so we can only provide dogfood for them. At least they get a decent meal, even if it is just once a week. CNRM is ideal. If that’s not possible, then “CN” only. If that’s still not possible, then it would have to be just “C” only. To care = to feed. No living being can survive without food.
If we may be allowed to reiterate, capture-and-kill – does it solve the problem? It definitely doesn’t. Neutering may also not solve the problem entirely, but between the two, don’t you think neutering has a better chance of preventing all these suffering, abandonment and deaths? Between the two, isn’t it more compassionate to neuter and reduce the unwanted births? Why do owners abandon pregnant dogs? Because they don’t want the puppies. Neutering will stop this malady once and for all.
We thank Lester, Jenny and Tracy for taking us on this extremely meaningful tour today. We rejoice with them on the fantastic work they are doing for these community dogs. The happiness and friendliness of all the dogs tell the story, that with love and pure intentions, there will be always be joy and hope.
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